Neil Gaiman

Is there anyone who doesn’t know Neil Gaiman is my favorite author? He’d be yours too, if you weren’t such a bonehead. You know who you are, Nadav. Anyway, on September he went on a signing tour to promote his (then) new book Anansi Boys and his (then) new movie Mirrormask he wrote, and around the 30^th he was scheduled to make 3 appearances in Bay Area bookstores. One of them got canceled because the store closed (more on that store later), and another one was no good for some other reason, which left me with Book Passage in Corte Madera.

The event was scheduled for 5:30 and I planned to be there at noon. Geek attractions always mean a huge line. Good thing I got lost and only arrived at the store around 1:00, because

1. I got to see the area and it was a beautiful day (you haven’t truly lived until you cross the Golden Gate bridge on a one of those perfect California sunny days, which are so rare in he City, in a 1968 convertible Mustang, but doing it in a Camry is pretty cool too), and
2. Apparently all the geeks went to the Berkeley event two days earlier, because I was all alone there until 4:00, when I was joined by two Philippino girls with a severe case of the cutes. We chatted while we waited in the scorching sun, and I tried not to stare too obviously. Let’s, er, just say that time passed quickly once they got there.

Then they let us in, and Award Winning Author Michael Chabon (seems like a nice guy, but I haven’t read any of his stuff yet) interviewed Neil for about an hour, and then I was almost first in line to have Neil sign my books, and he was so nice, and I got to tell him what I wanted to tell him, and he liked me so much that he shook my hand and drew me a mouse that says “Hi, Ido” in my Coraline book, and then one of the cute girls took a picture of me with him in the background, and told me she also took a picture of both of us talking in her camera, and she’ll email it to me (I’m still waiting!). And then I drove home with tears in my eyes.

He’ll be in Israel in October, and will probably do a signing. But I don’t know if he’ll shake your hand or draw you a mouse, because, you know, you’re not special.